Tuesday NHL Playoff Over Under Bets

The San Jose Sharks need to find a way to get the puck in the net. The Sharks have been blanked in successive games by the Edmonton Oilers and while the Oilers aren't lighting it up, with three goals in that span, they'd done enough to win.

Over Under Betting Advice

By Bob Duff

Should you go over, or under? That’s the question, and we’re here to help you with the answer, based on odds offered by Bovada.lv:

Almost no one in this series is scoring unless their name is Zack Kassian. The Oilers forward has scored two of the three goals netted in the last two games of this set, incuding both game winners.

He’s the first Oiler to do that since Fernando Pisani in 2006, who like Kassian was a role player. Getting secondary scoring is huge in the playoffs, because teams focus so much of their gameplanning around shutting down each other’s stars.

The Oilers have smothered San Jose’s talent. Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, the top four scorers for the Sharks during the regular season, have combined for one assist in this series. San Jose’s leading scorer is defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic (0-2-2). The total has gone under in five of San Jose’s last seven games and the Sharks have gone under 23 times at the SAP Center this season.

The Rangers have lost six in a row at Madison Square Garden in the playoffs and if you’re looking for the key to that drought, look no further than the club’s impotent offense. New York has scored only four goals during the six-game skid and two goals in the past five losses. The Rangers have been shut out four times during their six-game slide. In fact, they’ve scored two or fewer goals in eight consecutive home playoff games and 12 of their last 14 postseason tilts at MSG.

The Rangers power play also hasn’t shown much in this series. That unit has gone 0-for-10. Montreal’s power play had done little until finally getting goals with the man advantage from Arturri Lehkonen and Shea Weber in Game 3. The Habs are 2-for-10 on the power play. The Canadiens have gone under in 40 games this season and 22 times when playing on the road.

One thing you when these two teams get together in the playoffs is that the red lights behind each net are going to get a workout. The Penguins and Blue Jackets have combined for 17 goals so far, far and away the most of any of the eight Stanley Cup series in action. Heck, they put four goals in during the first period of Game 3, more than the Sharks and Oilers have scored in their past two games.

Tuesday’s 5-4 Penguins overtime victory marked the sixth time in nine playoff meetings in their history than Columbus and Pittsburgh went over the 5.5 total. Entering Monday’s action, the Penguins suited up three of the top four playoff scorers – Evgeni Malkin (2-4-6), Jake Guentzel (4-1-5) and Sidney Crosby (1-4-5). Phil Kessel (1-2-3) isn’t far behind. The St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks were the only others among the 16 playoff teams to have as many as three points with three points so far.

Pittsburgh went over an NHL-leading 47 times during regular-season play. With so much high-end talent, the Penguins don’t need a ton of chances to fill the net with goals. Pittsburgh has scored at least three goals in 18 of its last 27 postseason games, netting four or more goals in eight of those games. Guentzel has goals in seven of his last eight games.

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